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The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 99-09-17
From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <ert.ntua.gr/>
CONTENTS
[01] AIR ACCIDENT VICTIMS BURIED
[02] EARTHQUAKE UPDATE
[03] GREEK-TURKISH TALKS WIND UP
[04] UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY DISCUSSED
[05] EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TO ELECT SPECIAL MEDIATOR
[06] CYPRIOT PRESIDENT FLIES TO NEW YORK
[01] AIR ACCIDENT VICTIMS BURIED
The funerals of the alternate foreign minister Iannos Kranidiotis, and
his son Nikolas, who died in Tuesday night's air accident over
Bucharest, took place this afternoon. The service was conducted in the
Church of Aghios Dionysios in Kolonaki, and they were buried in the
Athens First Cemetery. The two Greek Radio & Television reporters, the
minister's personal bodyguard and the aircraft's flight engineer who
also died in the accident were buried yesterday. Two other passengers,
an ERT cameraman and the director of Mr Kranidiotis' diplomatic office,
are still in critical condition in hospital.
The transport minister, Tasos Mandelis, yesterday released the complete
file of flight formation from the Falcon aircraft showing there had
been no problem regarding the maintenance of the plane, at least during
the last year. The government spokesman, Dimitris Reppas, said an
American aviation expert was taking part in the commission set up to
investigate the cause of the accident. He clarified that no political
person was linked to any maintenance procedures and that the transport
minister would remain a cabinet member.
The New Democracy party's press spokesman, Aris Spiliotopoulos, accused
the government of political irresponsibility and called for the
transport minister's resignation. According to all indications, failure
of the automatic pilot's stability system was responsible for the
executive aircraft's fatal plunge. However, both the president of
Olympic Airways engineers and the company which built the plane have
given assurances that an earlier failure in the automatic pilot system
had been repaired.
[02] EARTHQUAKE UPDATE
As thousands of people hit by last week's earthquake in Athens try to
reorganise their lives, living in constant fear of a new earth tremor,
the Seismic Assessment Committee met yesterday to evaluate data warning
of an imminent tremor, supplied by the earthquake prediction centre in
Lamia, known as VAN. The committee agreed that data supplied by the VAN
team was insufficient and could not be scientifically assessed. The
Committee said the country was living in a period of seismic activity
and called for readiness as regards the inspection of buildings and the
correct briefing of citizens.
A member of the VAN team, Professor Konstantinos Eftaxios, walked out
of the meeting after his request for the session to be recorded on tape
was rejected. He claimed that what seismologists had to say at such
meetings differed from what they admitted publicly. The prime minister,
Kostas Simitis, had a meeting with the interior minister, Vaso
Papandreou, yesterday to reassess the needs of the quake-stricken areas
in Attica. Meanwhile the head of the appeals court has ordered an
investigation into reports that the 200,000 drachma subsidy for
quake-stricken families in Menidi was being handed out selectively.
A tremor measuring 4 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre in the
Attica region, was registered shortly after 2 o'clock this morning. The
Athens Observatory said the tremor was a normal after-shock from last
week's main quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale. Between 80% and
85% of schools in Attica are expected to be operating normally from
next Monday, although schools in areas hit by the recent earthquake
will not open until the following week. Private schools in Attica are
also required to have a certificate from a state engineer proving the
safety of their buildings before reopening.
[03] GREEK-TURKISH TALKS WIND UP
The second round of Greek-Turkish talks at the level of foreign
ministry officials ended in Athens yesterday. During the four-hour
meeting, the two delegations exchanged views on issues linked to
smuggling, the fight against organised crime and terrorism. Meetings
will resume in the second half of October.
[04] UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY DISCUSSED
The prime minister, Kostas Simitis, and the foreign minister, Giorgos
Papandreou, had a working session yesterday to discuss issues related
to the UN General Assembly which takes place in New York next week.
[05] EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TO ELECT SPECIAL MEDIATOR
The European Popular Party's parliamentary group decided unanimously
yesterday to support the candidacy of former New Democracy Euro-deputy
Giorgos Anastasopoulos for the position of European mediator, to be
elected by the plenum of the European Parliament in October.
[06] CYPRIOT PRESIDENT FLIES TO NEW YORK
The Cypriot president, Glafkos Kliridis, yesterday left London for New
York where he will address the UN General Assembly next Thursday.
Tomorrow President Kliridis will attend the enthronement of the new
Archbishop of America, Dimitrios, in Manhattan.
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